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Christina is a Christian, gamer. She enjoys playing a variety of tabletop games. Some of her favorite games are Myth, Sentinels of the Multiverse, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, MERCS Miniatures, and Lord of the Rings The Card Game.

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Eldritch Horror Demo at Gen Con 2013 [Gen Con 2013]

“In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”

In my house Lovecraft adventures await me in several of my favorite games. I enjoy Lovecraft’s mythos stories and absolutely enjoy Arkham Horror. I love getting lost in hours of trying to close portals and keep the Elder Ones at bay. Every time a game starts up I never know if we will win the game, but that is half the fun. Taking on a challenge each and every time a new game of Arkham Horror starts up thrills me. Just weeks before Gen Con, Fantasy Flight announced another adventure to the Lovecraft world called Eldritch Horror. Now I must admit I was a bit on the fence about this announcement but all worries were put to rest after demoing it at Gen Con.

Gen Con was busy as usual this year but one of my goals was to play Eldritch Horror and by the last day I was one of the lucky ones who sat down at the Eldritch Horror demo table. Fantasy Flight’s Corey Konieczka demoed for my table. Corey worked with Richard Launius on Eldritch Horror so it was a treat to have one of the developers demo the game. Those familiar with Arkham Horror will instantly find some similarities when looking at the set up. Each player starts with an investigator which has their own special abilities and skills. The phases are there as well as the mythos deck. The art style is similar to that of Arkham Horror and of course the Elder Ones are waiting to wreak havoc on not only Arkham, but the whole world.

I chose my investigator and put her on a starting location in Africa. Each player took turns moving their characters and when we got back to the first player the encounter phase took place, which involved either drawing an encounter card, fighting a monster, going into a portal, etc. Those familiar with Arkham Horror know the drill here. You could also chose to gain a ticket which helped you move around the world at greater speed. There was also the store where you could purchase items, allies, etc from. In order to receive things from the store you had to roll a success on certain skills in order to obtain it. On my first turn I chose to collect a clue token. Just as in Arkham Horror clue tokens could be used to reroll, however, a clue token can also be used to research the Elder One. One of the win conditions of the game is to research three mystery cards that pertain to the Elder One. To research you put a clue token on the face up mystery card. Once the required number of clue tokens are placed on the card the mystery has been resolved. Another win condition involves fighting and defeating the Elder One, much like Arkham Horror. We went through two rounds in the game and the demo was over. I had a lot of fun and would’ve enjoyed the opportunity to see the game to completion.

If you like Arkham Horror you’ll love Eldritch Horror. I was afraid that I would want to chose one over the other but after my demo I find myself wanting to have Eldritch Horror on my shelf next to Arkham Horror. It doesn’t replace Arkham Horror nor is it an expansion. This game is a new game, a new chapter into Lovecraft’s world. It utilizes a customizable experience thanks to the mystery cards, research cards, and the scalability in the mythos deck. If you haven’t played Arkham Horror this game is a great place to start your Lovecraft adventures. Look out for Eldritch Horror coming out in the 4th quarter of this year.

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